2014 beginning with controversy in politics

Posted on Monday, January 13, 2014 at 8:37 am

How did you like the taste of extreme winter weather which hit our area last week? Two new words, Polar Vortex, have been added to area conversation for many, making us forget about global warming for a time (I could have used some of that warming on a couple of days, how about you?)

Think about some kindness someone may have offered you during this frigid spell. It may have been just pushing snow off your windshield, shoveling or plowing a way out. It could have just been a knock on the door from someone just having concern for your well being. Appreciate the words or deeds done on our behalf. With all the inconveniences which came, did you stop to enjoy a bit of the beauty that Mother Nature left us for a brief moment? Sometimes random acts of kindness leads to uncomfortable situations but the goodness of humanity shines through.

While we climb out of this weather into a more seasonable path, 2014 has started out with climate hardships and with controversy. While the facts of the Benghazi tragedy and IRS scandals of 2013 still elude us (and no one to step up with explanations), another smaller scale one rose in New Jersey for Gov. Chris Christie, potential Presidential candidate. Aides apparently may have violated trust and power when a decision to change traffic leading to a bridge connecting New Jersey and New York was ordered because a mayor would not endorse Christie’s re-election bid. Christie responded in days by firing his deputy chief of staff. The emails and the incident has turned a regional transportation issue into the national spotlight, garnering the attention of a federal attorney. Christie has denied any knowledge of this act of political retribution. Whether a crime has taken place, the issue continues to exasperate people’s confidence in government. Again, it’s the people who utilized that bridge who lost and were disrupted in their daily lives. How many ambulances, for example, were delayed by that decision?